At the end of a letter (or I guess these days an email or text) we would normally do one of several things. We might say something nice like, “Hoping you have a great day!” Or we might throw in a last minute thought—maybe something like, “Oh by the way, don’t forget the meeting next week.” Or we might summarize what we have been trying to communicate in the whole letter, “So, what I am saying is this—we really need to watch our expenses this quarter.”
John ends his letter with a curious line, “Dear children, keep yourself from idols.” This is the only reference to idols in the whole letter—the word is not found in the gospel of John or the other two letters written by John. Why mention this now?
It could be kind of a throw-away line—something John forgot until now to mention and he sticks in at the last moment. But it could also be a summary of what he has been talking about. Our lives are what we worship. Worship Jesus the Christ and the world is different. That means we have to tur
